page_title: Etruscan art
section_title: Vase painting
hierarchical_section_title: Etruscan art / Vase painting
caption_attribution_description: On the belly: Herakles, Iolaos, and the Lernean Hydra; two sphinxes on the reverse; and a crab under the horizontal handle. Etruscan pottery — at the Getty Villa, Los Angeles, California. Українська: Геркулес і Гідра, бл. 525 до н. е.
context_page_description: Etruscan art was produced by the Etruscan civilization in central Italy between the 10th and 1st centuries BC. From around 750 BC it was heavily influenced by Greek art, which was imported by the Etruscans, but always retained distinct characteristics. Particularly strong in this tradition were figurative sculpture in terracotta, wall-painting and metalworking especially in bronze. Jewellery and engraved gems of high quality were produced.
  Etruscan sculpture in cast bronze was famous and widely exported, but relatively few large examples have survived. In contrast to terracotta and bronze, there was relatively little Etruscan sculpture in stone, despite the Etruscans controlling fine sources of marble, including Carrara marble, which seems not to have been exploited until the Romans.
  The great majority of survivals came from tombs, which were typically crammed with sarcophagi and grave goods, and terracotta fragments of architectural sculpture, mostly around temples. Tombs have produced all the fresco wall-paintings, which show scenes of feasting and some narrative mythological subjects.
  Bucchero wares in black were the early and native styles of fine Etruscan pottery.
context_section_description: Etruscan vase painting was produced from the 7th through the 4th centuries BC, and is a major element in Etruscan art. It was strongly influenced by Greek vase painting, followed the main trends in style, especially those of Athens, over the period, but lagging behind by some decades. The Etruscans used the same techniques, and largely the same shapes. Both the black-figure vase painting and the later red-figure vase painting techniques were used.  The subjects were also very often drawn from Greek mythology in later periods. 
  Besides being producers in their own right, the Etruscans were the main export market for Greek pottery outside Greece, and some Greek painters probably moved to Etruria, where richly decorated vases were a standard element of grave inventories.  It has been suggested that many or most elaborately painted vases were specifically bought to be used in burials, as a substitute, cheaper and less likely to attract robbers, for the vessels in silver and bronze that the elite would have used in life.
caption: Water jar with Herakles and the Hydra, c. 525 BC
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